NI Vision Development Module 2013 SP1 Readme

January 2014


This file contains important information about National Instruments Vision Development Module and is organized into the following sections:


Overview
System Requirements
New Features
Updates and Improvements
Installation Instructions
How to Activate the NI Vision License
Deploying Vision Applications
Automating the Installation of NI Products
Known Issues
Documentation and Examples


Refer to the Machine Vision Web site at ni.com/vision for the latest information about the NI Vision Development Module.


Overview

Installing this program may remove previous versions of the NI Vision Development Module that are currently installed.


The NI Vision Development Module 2013 SP1 supports LabVIEW 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013; Visual Studio 2005 and 2008; and LabWindows™/CVI™ 8.1 or later. The installer specifically allows side-by-side installations of NI Vision for each of the supported versions of LabVIEW, enabling you to use the NI Vision Development Module with multiple versions of LabVIEW. National Instruments recommends that you install LabVIEW, LabVIEW Real-Time, or any other supported development environment, before installing the NI Vision Development Module.


Note: The NI Vision Development Module overwrites existing NI Vision examples and NI Vision VIs. Move modified examples or VIs that you want to save to another directory before installing the NI Vision Development Module.


System Requirements

The development computer must meet the following system requirements to run the NI Vision Development Module:


  Minimum Recommended
Processor 233 MHz Pentium or equivalent Pentium 4/M or equivalent
Memory 256 MB RAM 512 MB RAM
Display 1,024 × 768 resolution video adapter with a 16-bit display 1,024 × 768 resolution video adapter with a 24- or 32-bit display
Free Hard Disk Space 1.4 GB
Operating System Windows 8/Windows 7/Vista/XP (32-bit)/Server 2008 R2/Server 2003 R2 (32-bit)
Browser Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later

New Features

This release of the NI Vision Development Module includes the following new features:


  • Support for LabVIEW 2013 SP1 (32- and 64-bit)
  • New IMAQ ImageToEDVR VI, which exposes an image as an external data value reference. This allows you to manipulate image pixels using an In Place Element structure in LabVIEW and avoid making unnecessary copies of image data.
  • Improvements to calibration:
    • Using the NI Calibration Training Interface or the IMAQ Set Calibration Axis Info 2 - Reference Points VI, you can define a calibration axis using three nonlinear points and their corresponding real-world coordinates. Use this when the origin of the calibration axis is outside of the image.
    • The IMAQ Correction Learn Setup VI provides the option to ignore the calibration axis while correcting an image. Ignoring the calibration axis will not rotate or flip the image when you call IMAQ Correct Calibrated Image.
  • Increased JPEG performance when streaming images from remote targets to the host machine.

NI Vision Assistant includes the following new features:


  • Vision Assistant 64-bit executable. This allows you to open and proces larger images.

    Note: The 64-bit version of Vision Assistant does not generate C or .NET code.


Updates and Improvements

The following list describes issues in previous versions of the NI Vision Development Module that are fixed in this release. If you have a CAR ID, you can search this list to validate that the issue has been fixed. This is not an exhaustive list of issues fixed in the current version of the NI Vision Development Module.


ID Fixed Issue
432530Edge-based geometric pattern matching using an indirect axis crashes.
432149IMAQ Read Data Matrix Barcode 3 crashes with some images.
427986Geometric Pattern Matching returns incorrect calibrated results for some axis angles.
424322Multiline OCR does not detect very small characters.
415530The Calibration Training Interface angle might not be set correctly in some specific cases.
426542Optical Flow Feature Tracking corrupts memory and crashes during execution in LabVIEW 64-bit.
290354Passing an Image Display Control by reference to a subVI inside of a DLL will crash LabVIEW from the run-time environment.
286686LabVIEW crashes when reading some TIFF image files.
364612Passing references of empty images to IMAQImage Property Nodes can cause a crash in built executables for some properties.
437842Overlay colors are not displayed correctly in snapshot mode in LabVIEW 64-bit.
432798Max caliper repeatability is improved for two parallel edges.
383515IMAQ Particle Filter 3 returns an incorrect number of particles in LabVIEW 64-bit.
363415Data Matrix detection does not support rotated or flipped rectangle barcodes.
439066IMAQ Convolute returns a black image for 7x7 kernel with only 1's on the first row.
431102ROIs around each read OCR character do not tilt to match the overall angle of the line of text.
428419IMAQ Absolute Difference does not support the RGB64 image type.
432528Vision Assistant and the Calibration Training Interface do not correct for distortion information in calibrated images.
440607In the Calibration Training Interface, an invalid coordinate system error is returned when using edit calibration axis.
417571The IMAQ AVI2 VIs cannot create uncompressed AVIs.
403508The IMAQ AVI2 VIs cannot read some uncompressed AVIs.
428422IMAQ Extract Single Color Plane does not support the U16 image type for the destination.
411296Bad pixels toward the end of the row when decoding using certain Bayer pixel formats.
428437IMAQ Extract does not support the RGB64 image type.
430001Cannot use extended ASCII code in the IMAQ AVI file name for IMAQ AVI2 VIs.

Remote Target Support

NI Vision Development Module 2011 SP1 was the last version of NI Vision Development Module to provide support for the NI 1762 Smart Camera and the NI 1764 Smart Camera. New software features of NI Vision Development Module will not work on these devices. Backward compatibility for existing applications will be maintained.


Installation Instructions

Installing from the LabVIEW Platform DVDs

If you purchased LabVIEW, you can install all of your LabVIEW products—including the NI Vision Development Module—using the LabVIEW Platform DVDs.


To request additional LabVIEW Platform DVDs, refer to the National Instruments Web site.


Installing from the NI Vision Development Module Installation Media

Complete the following steps to install the NI Vision Development Module from the NI Vision Development Module installation media.


  1. Log on as an administrator or as a user with administrator privileges.
  2. Insert the NI Vision Development Module installation media.
  3. If you do not have autorun enabled, double-click autorun.exe. If you have autorun enabled, autorun.exe runs automatically.
  4. Follow the onscreen instructions.
  5. (Optional) Activate NI Vision Development Module when prompted by the installer, or activate at a later time using the NI License Manager.

Installing from an NI Software Suite or NI Product Bundle

If you purchased this product with an NI Software Suite or NI Product Bundle, use the installation media that shipped with your purchase to install this product.


How to Activate the NI Vision License

When you run an NI Vision application for the first time, it prompts you to activate a license for the product. If you do not activate a valid license, the NI Vision application will run in Evaluation Mode and continue to prompt you to activate a license on each subsequent launch.


Complete the following steps to activate the NI Vision license through an Internet connection.


  1. Run the product you want to license.
  2. Click Yes when prompted to interactively activate your product.
  3. Ensure that Automatically activate through a secure Internet connection is selected, and click Next.
  4. Enter the product serial number, and click Next.
  5. Enter your registration information, and click Next.

Tip: Enter your email address to receive a copy of your activation code for your records.


Deploying Vision Applications

Deployment refers to developing an application so that it can be distributed, or deployed, on a different computer than the one on which the application was developed. The NI Vision Development Module provides everything you need to deploy custom NI Vision applications to target computers. The NI Vision Development Module provides the following options:


  • The ability to create NI Vision Run-Time Engine installers, which integrate with the LabVIEW Application Builder, applications built in LabWindows/CVI, or a custom installer.
  • The ability to install the NI Vision Run-Time Engine directly from the Vision Development Module CD.
  • One NI Vision Run-Time License, which allows you to install a custom application on a single machine.

The NI Vision Development Module installer contains the run-time engine installer for NI Vision. The run-time engine installer is installed at <Vision>\Run-Time Engine, where <Vision> is the location to which the NI Vision Development Module is installed. Visit the Drivers and Updates section of ni.com to download software upgrades for NI Vision and the NI Vision Run-Time installers.


Purchasing NI Vision Deployment Licenses

You must purchase an NI Vision Run-Time License (part number 778044-03) for each target machine onto which you want to install your custom NI Vision application, even if you install the NI Vision Run-Time Engine directly from the NI Vision Development Module CD. The NI Vision Development Module CD ships with one run-time license. Contact a National Instruments sales representative or visit ni.com to purchase additional run-time licenses.


Note: Additional NI Vision Run-Time Licenses do not include a CD. To install additional licenses, use the original NI Vision Development Module CD and the serial number provided by National Instruments.


Using the NI Vision Run-Time Engine

You can call the NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer from the application installer. If you create the application installer with the LabVIEW Application Builder or with LabWindows/CVI, you can direct the installer to call the NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer.


Refer to the LabVIEW Help for more information about the LabVIEW Application Builder. Refer to the NI LabWindows/CVI Help for more information about building and distributing LabWindows/CVI applications.


You can also direct a custom application installer to call the NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer. Refer to the documentation that came with the installer software to learn how to call executables from the custom installer. If you are using a custom installer, call the NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer at the end of the installation procedure because the installer may require the system to be restarted.


To use the NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer, you must add /qn as a command line argument to the run-time engine installer. For example, enter <Vision>\Run-Time Engine\vision2012rte.exe /qn to run the NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer, where <Vision> is the location to which NI Vision is installed.


Distributing LabVIEW Applications

The NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer does not install LabVIEW VIs. If you use the LabVIEW Application Builder to create an application (EXE) or dynamic link library (DLL), the Application Builder automatically includes the VIs used by the application. If you distribute a VI, you must include all subVIs that comprise the top-level VI. You must include the appropriate LabVIEW Run-Time Engine as part of the installation.


Refer to the LabVIEW Help for more information about viewing the hierarchy of VIs and for more information about using the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine.


Distributing LabWindows/CVI Applications

In addition to including the NI Vision Run-Time Engine with the installer, you must include the appropriate LabWindows/CVI Run-Time Engine. Refer to the NI LabWindows/CVI Help for more information about creating an executable, creating a dynamic link library, and distributing applications.


Automating the Installation of NI Products

You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes. However, starting with the August 2012 releases (products using NI Installers version 3.1 or later), you may need to perform additional steps before or during a silent installation of NI software.


If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.0, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.0 separately before you install NI software.


For more information, refer to the following KnowledgeBase articles:


Known Issues

You can access the software and documentation known issues list online. Refer to the National Instruments Web site for an up-to-date list of known issues in the NI Vision Development Module.


  • The IMAQ Edge Tool 3 VI can cause a fatal error in LabVIEW when using a large ROI.
  • Specifying a negative angle in the IMAQ Learn Pattern 4 VI causes error -1074395249.
  • The AVI2 VIs do not support writing extra data to AVIs.
  • Japanese and Simplified Chinese for text overlays are not supported on NI Linux® Real-Time targets.
  • The IMAQ Read QR Code VI may hang when the QR Code Cell Size has a minimum size of 2 or less. Setting the minimum size to 3 or higher will prevent this issue.
  • The IMAQ Read Data Matrix Barcode 3 VI may hang on some I16 images.
  • Zooming out on a large, 32-bit image in the Image Display in LabVIEW will cause the image to black out. Only the displayed image is affected. The image itself is not modified.
  • To store error statistics on corrected images, you must run the IMAQ Get Calibration Info2 VI before correcting the calibration template image. The Return Error Information input must be set to TRUE.
  • Vision Assistant cannot generate C code if a double-byte character exists in the path to Vision Assistant or in the destination path for the generated code.
  • Some Vision Development Module .NET examples only work if Measurement Studio 8.6 or later is installed.
  • The Visual Basic .NET Label example does not compile.
  • There is no 64-bit Vision API for C or .NET.
  • Installing the Vision Development Module on a Windows Vista 64-bit computer where Visual Studio 2005 has been recently installed causes compatibility warnings.
  • On some systems, the Vision Development Module cannot open two of the installed AVI files, SideCrash1.avi and SideCrash2.avi, when running as a 64-bit application.
  • Using NI Vision with LabWindows/CVI on a machine that does not support the MMX instruction set may cause an Illegal Operation exception to occur within the LabWindows/CVI environment. This error occurs when DirectX checks for the availability of the MMX instruction set on the machine.

Documentation and Examples

The NI Vision Development Module documentation set consists of the following manuals and help files:


  • NI Vision Concepts Help—Describes the basic concepts of image analysis, image processing, and machine vision. This document also contains in-depth discussions about imaging functions for advanced users.

The following sections describe the documents available for each application development environment and where to find example programs.


NI Vision for LabVIEW Documentation

  • NI Vision for LabVIEW Help—Describes how to create machine vision and image processing applications in LabVIEW using the NI Vision Development Module. It also describes how to create a real-time vision application using NI Vision and the LabVIEW Real-Time Module.

    This document also contains reference information about NI Vision VIs and details about how to use NI Vision with LabVIEW. In LabVIEW, select Help»NI Vision for LabVIEW Help.


    Note: The NI Vision for LabVIEW Help combines the NI Vision for LabVIEW User Manual and NI Vision for LabVIEW VI Reference Help from previous releases into one document.


  • NI Example Finder—Illustrates common applications you can create with NI Vision. In LabVIEW, select Help»Find Examples. Click the Help button in the NI Example Finder to display the NI Example Finder Help.

NI Vision for LabWindows/CVI Documentation

  • NI Vision for LabWindows/CVI User Manual—Describes how to create machine vision and image processing applications in LabWindows/CVI using the NI Vision Development Module.
  • NI Vision for LabWindows/CVI Function Reference Help—Contains reference information about NI Vision for LabWindows/CVI functions.
  • Function panel help within LabWindows/CVI—Allows you to right-click within each Vision function to access help for that function, control, function class, and function library. Function panels are installed at <CVI>\bin\NIVision.lfp, where <CVI> is the location to which LabWindows/CVI is installed.
  • Example programs for specific applications are installed at <CVI>\Samples\Vision.

NI Vision for .NET Documentation

The NI Vision .NET documentation merges into the NI Measurement Studio Help. The NI Measurement Studio Help integrates into the Visual Studio Combined Help Collection under the Measurement Studio node in the Table of Contents. In order for links from Measurement Studio help topics to .NET Framework help topics to work, you must install the product documentation for Visual Studio, which installs the MSDN Library. This requires a secondary installation during the Visual Studio installation process.


The NI Measurement Studio Help is in the Microsoft Help 2.0 format and requires a Microsoft Help 2.0 viewer to be displayed. A Microsoft Help 2.0 viewer is installed with both Microsoft Visual Studio and the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK. The SDK is freely available from MSDN at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads. If you do not have either of these products, you will need a standalone Microsoft Help 2.0 viewer to display the documentation. Some Help 2.0 viewers are available for download, such as Helpware's H2Viewer.


  • NI Measurement Studio Help—Contains reference information about NI Vision for .NET objects. Describes how to create machine vision and image processing applications in Visual Basic .NET and C# using the NI Vision Development Module. You can launch the NI Measurement Studio Help in the following ways:

    If you have Measurement Studio installed:


    • From the Windows Start menu, select Start»All Programs»National Instruments»<Measurement Studio>»Measurement Studio Documentation, where <Measurement Studio> is the location to which Measurement Studio is installed. The help launches in a stand-alone help viewer.
    • From Visual Studio, select Measurement Studio»NI Measurement Studio Help.

    If you do not have Measurement Studio installed:


    • From Visual Studio, select Help»Contents to view the Visual Studio table of contents. The NI Measurement Studio Help is listed in the table of contents.
  • Example programs for specific applications are installed at <Vision>\Examples\dotNET, where <Vision> is the location to which NI Vision is installed.

NI Vision Assistant Documentation

  • NI Vision Assistant Tutorial—Describes the Vision Assistant software interface and guides you through creating example image processing and machine vision applications.
  • NI Vision Assistant Help—Contains descriptions of Vision Assistant features and functions and provides instructions for using them. In Vision Assistant, select Help»Online Help.
  • NI Classification Training Interface Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Classification Training Interface to classify binary samples. In the NI Classification Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
  • NI Color Classification Training Interface Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Color Classification Training Interface to classify color samples. In the NI Color Classification Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
  • NI OCR Training Interface Help—Contains information about how to use the NI OCR Training Interface to learn characters, save character sets, and verify characters by comparing them to a reference character. In the NI OCR Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
  • NI Texture Training Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Texture Training Interface to train a texture classifier file for use in texture defect detection applications. In the NI Texture Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
  • NI Calibration Training Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Calibration Training Interface to select and create a calibration for use in machine vision applications. In the NI Calibration Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
  • NI Vision Template Editor Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Vision Template Editor to learn and edit template images that you can use with pattern matching, geometric matching, and golden template comparison functions. In the NI Vision Template Editor, select Help»Online Help.

How to Use NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8

When you install National Instruments software on Microsoft Windows 8, you will notice a few additional tiles on the Start screen, including shortcuts to NI application software products such as NI LabVIEW, Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX), and the new NI Launcher.


Using NI Launcher

NI Launcher helps you find and launch installed NI products. It provides you with a method of finding NI products similar to the Start menu in previous versions of Microsoft Windows. To use NI Launcher, click the NI Launcher tile on the Start screen. NI Launcher launches the desktop and opens a menu containing a list of NI products. Click any NI product to launch it.


Note  MAX does not appear as a desktop shortcut when installed on Microsoft Windows 8. You can launch MAX either from the Start screen or from within NI Launcher.

Pinning Frequently Used Applications

For convenience, you can pin your most-used NI applications, such as MAX, to either the Start screen or the Taskbar on the desktop, as necessary:


Current ApplicationIcon LocationPin to Action
Windows 8 DesktopDesktop TaskbarRight-click application and select Pin to Taskbar
Windows 8 DesktopStart screenRight-click application and select Pin to Start
Windows 8 Start screenDesktop TaskbarRight-click application and select Pin to taskbar from the menu bar on the bottom of the screen

Finding All Programs

If you want to find a particular application or related files, such as documentation files, from the Start screen, you can access all installed files by right-clicking anywhere on the Start screen and selecting All apps. A list of all installed software and related files appears, in alphabetical order by creator or type.


For more information about NI support for Windows 8, visit ni.com/windows8.


NI Vision Development Module Drops Support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 in 2016

National Instruments Vision Development Module will drop support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 as of July 1, 2016. Versions of Vision Development Module that ship after July 1, 2016 will not install or run on Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003. For detailed information about NI application software product life cycles, visit ni.com/info and enter one of the following Info Codes:


Product Info Code
NI LabVIEWlifecycle
NI LabWindows™/CVI™cvi_lifecycle
NI Measurement Studiomstudiolifecycle
NI TestStandtslcp
NI DIAdemddlcp
NI SignalExpressselcp
NI VeriStandnivslifecycle

Copyright

© 2014 National Instruments Corporation. All rights reserved.


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End-User License Agreements and Third-Party Legal Notices

You can find end-user license agreements (EULAs) and third-party legal notices in the following locations:


  • Notices are located in the <National Instruments>\_Legal Information and <National Instruments> directories.
  • EULAs are located in the <National Instruments>\Shared\MDF\Legal\license directory.
  • Review <National Instruments>\_Legal Information.txt for information on including legal information in installers built with NI products.

Trademarks

Refer to the NI Trademarks and Logo Guidelines at ni.com/trademarks for information on National Instruments trademarks. Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.


Patents

For patents covering the National Instruments products/technology, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or the National Instruments Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.